Opening Day 2019 was a smash.
Forty-eight home runs hit around the majors — including a record-breaking eight by the Dodgers in their win over the Diamondbacks — helped fans really enjoy the full slate of games on Thursday.
In the JLB, the Sex Panthers led the way with six blasts, and it could have had more had she started Domingo Santana.
No one can blame her, though. When Chris Sale is on the mound, you can’t predict that Santana should be deserving of a start.
Still, six is a great first-day start for Gina as Jorge Alfaro, Khris Davis, Jose Peraza, Luke Voit, Robinson Cano and Christian Yelich all went yard.
There are so many things to note here.
First, the reigning NL MVP is back in a big way with his three-run blast in a Brewers win over the Cardinals. For Gina and the Brewers, this is great to see. Questions abound on whether or not Yelich could pick up where he left off and be an MVP contender again.
After today, I’d say yes.
Second, Davis now has two homers on the season — he hit one in Japan — and he’s well on his way to hitting another 40-plus homers for the A’s. He gets overlooked a lot because of his location on the West Coast, but Yelich and Davis are quite the tandem to have.
Third, is Voit for real? That’s the question. And don’t think I doubted him with my trade to Gina. I just valued a future shortstop in Willy Adames more and didn’t want Voit to go to the draft.
He hit a three-run homer in his first at-bat of the season and proceeded to reach base three more times via two walks and a hit-by-pitch.
If Voit is truly the player we saw over the last two months of 2018, my god, the Sex Panthers are in for a big offensive season.
Finally, the fourth note from Thursday’s homers is Alfaro’s. Gina needed a catcher and Alfaro is certainly an interesting choice. He’s on his third team after really failing to establish himself as the hitter scouts thought he could be.
There’s still high hopes he can reach that potential and it’s why the Marlins really wanted him back in the deal. To see him homer on Opening Day is a promising start.
MAYBE? JUST MAYBE?
Opening Day overreactions are the greatest.
I’m gearing up for Parker’s.
He already took offense to his pitching staff not being lauded the best ever assembled.
OK, so, he really just was upset that everyone thinks Crox and Breakfast have better starters.
What did Parker do on Opening Day? Oh, you know, 3-0 with three quality starts, 23 strikeouts and a 1.33 ERA. His 0.889 WHIP is nice, too, but he’s losing that category to Quad Eh.
Breakfast is 1-2 with a 10.93 ERA and 12 strikeouts. Crox didn’t even have an Opening Day starter.
I think this settles it. Parker wins. Best staff in 2019! #OpeningDayOverreactions
(Oh, and I’d like to throw out that I’m 1-0 with two quality starts, a 1.17 ERA and 0.848 WHIP.)
BEST SHORTSTOP IN AL!
Speaking of overreactions, let’s talk Adalberto Mondesi. I was blown away when I saw an offseason ranking have him in the top 20 of fantasy players for 2019 at No. 16.
Yes, he was considered the 16th-best position player.
“No way,” I said.
But with two triples on Opening Day, I have to worry a bit. Did I trade the 16th-best player in fantasy for Raisel Iglesias last July?
WORLD SERIES REMATCH, DAY 1
The Steaks logged 25.2 inning on Opening Day, which is nothing new. He’s used to having the type of pitchers who get that honorable nod to start the season.
What he’s not used to is walking away with a 5.26 ERA and three losses.
Zack Greinke and Miles Mikolas didn’t have the greatest starts, and Max Scherzer was the hard-luck loser in a 12-strikeout performance against the Mets.
Still, plenty of matchup left, but that ERA hit is a tough one to have, especially when you’re going up against the AL’s best pitching staff. (I’m just assuming Parker stopped reading after his section.)
Offensively, no one really pulled ahead in the batting categories, so after one day, it’s anyone’s game — as we would expect.
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